As for who among them will take home the Tony, the selection process narrowed Tuesday morning with the announcement of nominations by the American Theatre Wing, with the stirring musical Fela!, about Nigerian Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti, and the moving revival of La Cage Aux Folles, featuring pitch-perfect performances from Kelsey Grammer and British actor Douglas Hodge, outdistancing all other shows – with 11 nominations each.

Hot on their heels was the revival of August Wilson's Fences, starring nominees Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. It received 10 nominations.

In the field of leading actor in a play, besides Washington, are Jude Law in Hamlet; Alfred Molina, as the artist Mark Rothko, in Red, Liev Schreiber in the revival of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge and Christopher Walken in Martin McDonaugh's A Behanding in Spokane.

In addition to Viola Davis, the nominated leading actresses in a play are Valerie Harper as the late legend Tallulah Bankhead in Looped; Linda Lavin as a New York author in Donald Margulies's Collected Stories; Laura Linney as a disillusioned journalist in Time Stands Still and Jan Maxwell as a member of a theatrical dynasty in the classic The Royal Family

Best play nominations went to In the Next Room, Next Fall, Red and Time Stands Still.

Sorry, Morticia and Gomez

In the best musical category, while the critically wounded The Addams Family managed to gain two nods, for supporting actor Kevin Chamberlain (who plays Fester) and for its score, it was basically shut out, with its stars, Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, ignored.

Also glaringly overlooked, in the straight play category, was Hugh Jackman in A Steady Rain, despite the box office – and sexual heat – both he and costar Daniel Craig generated during its limited run.

Other nominations worth noting are Scarlett Johansson's for featured actress in A View from the Bridge and two nominated musical featured actresses who long ago earned the stars on their dressing room doors (and already have Tonys on their mantles): Barbara Cook, the original Marian the Librarian in 1957's The Music Man, now in the running for her contribution to the new musical compendium Sondheim on Sondheim, and everybody's favorite, Angela Lansbury, who plays Catherine Zeta-Jones's mother in the revival of Sondheim's A Little Night Music.

The 64th annual Tony Awards will be telecast on CBS, live from Radio City Music Hall, on Sunday, June 13, in a three-hour show beginning at 8 p.m. ET. No host has been announced as yet, though past emcees have included Jackman, Lansbury and Neil Patrick Harris.

In related news, the lights in Times Square will darken at 8 p.m. Tuesday, in tribute to actress Lynn Redgrave, who died Sunday at her Connecticut home.